How to make a Braided Rug, Part I I decided to break up this "tutorial" on how to make a
braided rug, because it might take a while for me to
write. Plus, when I make a rug, there are three definite
stages to the process.
This is Part I -- Gather your fabric, make strips and fold
them
First of course are photos of some finished rugs:
You can make a small circle rug for on a chair or
stool, or a long narrow oval for a bench:
or a circular floor rug:
or a long oval rug for a hallway!
You can combine the braided rug with a hooked rug
center:
But first you have to collect some wool.
I've been lucky in the past to obtain fabric somewhat
inexpensively, but I find this is getting harder to do where I
live. Aside from Value Village, and the Salvation Army
thrift stores, we have a Mennonite used goods store here that
I found the best stuff. It was in a section that had
little bundles of fabric for low prices. Also, you can
sometimes find some good lengths of yardage at garage sales,
or perhaps a friend might have a stash that she wants to give
away. Or, you can get it at fabric stores, although that
can be pretty expensive.
Sometimes, it is even worthwhile to take apart an old piece
of wool clothing, if you want to use the color or pattern on
it --- a very large dirndl wool skirt is good, but you have to
be able to get quite a few fairly long strips from it to make
it worthwhile.
I sort of knew what wool looked and felt like.
However, it is hard to tell sometimes whether a fabric is a
wool blend. The main thing is that it should be thick
enough to fold into a cord that has some body to it, that
won't be really flat. If a fabric is thin, you can try
to felt it by throwing it into the washing machine on hot, and
then putting it in the dryer.
You can really tell the difference between 100% wool and a
wool blend when you try to cut or rip it into strips.
100% wool rips really easily, whereas a blend has resistance
to it, and makes a louder noise when you rip it.
To start, you need to cut strips of woven wool that are
about 2-1/4" wide. I usually make cuts on the end of the
fabric with the rotary cutter and ruler: You can rip
each strip individually, or if you're feeling strong, rip down
a few inches on each, then fold half the strips one way and
half the other. Hold one bunch of strips in each hand
and then pull apart to rip all the strips at once.
After you have strips, you might want to join some of
the shorter ones into a longer strip. I like to have
strips that are at least 4 or 5 feet long, up to about 6 or 7
feet long.
Join them with a diagonal seam. Just lay one end over
another at right angles, and sew on the diagonal.
Then cut the extra fabric away.
At this point, I usually put them all into a large basket
to keep near the sofa to have on hand for moments when you
want something to do. Perfect for watching t.v.
Next step is to fold and coil the strips into something
that looks sort of like a cinnamon roll.
It's a bit tricky to explain how to do the
folding/coiling. What you're aiming to do is fold the
raw edges to the inside (be careful so that any seams you had
will be on the inside of the fold). It's certainly a
two-handed technique. You might find it helpful to place
pins in as you go to prevent things from unwinding if you
accidentally let go. My coils are usually about 3" to 6"
wide when totally wound up. Finish off by putting a pin
in the end to hold it in place. Then, you can lay them
out on an ironing board. I steam them thoroughly on one
side, turn them over and steam again. When they dry, the
folds will be set in place so that they won't unfold when you
do the braiding part.
They look sort of interesting at this point. Usually
I do lots of them, so that later I can braid a lot at one
sitting.
If you only want to give this a try, you'll only need a few
coils for something like a 8" circle to use as a hot
mat. You'll naturally feel clumsy doing this at first,
and be tempted to give up. But, it's like a lot of
things, if you persevere a bit and practice, soon it gets much
easier and you'll be doing it without thinking about it.
Really!
Well, that's it for the first step, next you will
braid the coils!!! Michelle | 
